CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- The judge nominated to replace Antonin Scalia at the Supreme Court answered questions on abortion and religious freedom jurisprudence on Tuesday.<\/p>\nWhile he avoided commenting on how he may rule in certain cases, Judge Neil Gorsuch of the Tenth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals discussed the legal principles underlying topics such as the right to life and freedom of religious expression.<\/p>\n
Speaking to the Senate Judiciary Committee, he acknowledged Roe v. Wade \u2013 the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion throughout the U.S. \u2013 as settled precedent, though he declined to say whether it was decided correctly and how he would rule in future abortion cases.<\/p>\n
Tuesday marked the second day of the committee\u2019s confirmation hearing for Judge Gorsuch to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court. Gorsuch was tapped by President Donald Trump in February to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court left by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in 2016.<\/p>\n
Trump had insisted while on the campaign trail in 2016 that he would appoint pro-life justices to the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
When asked at the final presidential debate in October if, as president, he wanted the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion throughout the U.S., Trump answered that \u201cif that would happen, because I am pro-life and I will be appointing pro-life justices\u2026it [the legality of abortion] will go back to the individual states.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Gorsuch was asked by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, \u201cwhether Roe was decided correctly.\u201d Gorsuch answered that the decision \u201cis the precedent of the United States Supreme Court.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roe, he said, \u201cwas reaffirmed in Casey in 1992 and in several other cases. So a good judge will consider a precedent of the United States Supreme Court worthy as treatment of precedent like any other.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), ranking member on the committee, asked Gorsuch about assumptions that he could vote to overturn Roe, he reiterated that it was \u201csettled.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce a case is settled, that adds to the determinacy of the law. What was once a hotly contested issue is no longer a hotly contested issue. We move forward,\u201d Gorsuch answered. \u201cIt has been reaffirmed many times. I can say that.\u201d<\/p>\n
He expounded upon abortion law in a discussion with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who asked about the authority of states to set limits on abortions given that medical knowledge of unborn human life has developed with time.<\/p>\n
Graham referenced the Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision of 1992, which established the \u201cviability\u201d standard for states\u2019 abortion laws, that they could restrict abortions after an unborn baby shows \u201cviability.\u201d<\/p>\n
Recent research shows that unborn babies can \u201cfeel excruciating pain\u201d at 20 weeks post-gestation, Graham argued, and so the \u201cstate has a compelling interest\u201d to step in and limit abortions conducted after five months.<\/p>\n
Currently, 19 states have \u201cPain-Capable\u201d laws banning abortions after five months of pregnancy, except in cases of rape, incest, or when the life of the mother is at stake.<\/p>\n
Rather than voicing support or opposition for such laws, Gorsuch simply promised that if an abortion law case came before him as a Supreme Court justice, he would, as Graham had asked, \u201clook at the facts,\u201d \u201cread the briefs,\u201d and \u201cmake a decision\u201d from that.<\/p>\n
Sen. Grassley also asked about the Griswold decision of 1965 that legalized contraception in the U.S. based on a right to privacy of married couples. Gorsuch answered that the case has precedent as it is \u201c50 years old.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been repeatedly reaffirmed, all very important factors again, in analyzing precedent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senators also pressed Gorsuch about religious freedom cases, particularly the application of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to jurisprudence. RFRA was a law passed in 1993, and it set up a test to determine cases where a person claimed their free exercise of religion had been violated by the federal government.<\/p>\n
The government may not \u201csubstantially burden\u201d one\u2019s free exercise of religion, the law says, unless it proved that its law \u201cfurthered a compelling governmental interest\u201d and was the \u201cleast-restrictive means\u201d of doing so.<\/p>\n
RFRA has surfaced in Supreme Court cases as of late, especially in cases of employers or religious non-profits against the government\u2019s birth control mandate. That mandate forces employers to provide cost-free coverage for sterilizations, contraceptives, and drugs that can cause abortions in employee health plans.<\/p>\n
Gorsuch, while on the Tenth Circuit, ruled in favor of Hobby Lobby, an arts-and-crafts chain owned by a Christian family who claimed that the mandate violated their religious freedom because they had to provide employees coverage for drugs they believed caused abortions.<\/p>\n
He insisted on Tuesday that the religious freedom law \u201capplies not just to Hobby Lobby. It also applies to the Little Sisters of the Poor and protects their religious exercise,\u201d he said, and protected a Muslim prisoner in Oklahoma who wanted to keep his beard at a certain length for religious purposes against prison rules.<\/p>\n
Gorsuch joined the dissent in the case of the Little Sisters of the Poor where they claimed that the federal government\u2019s \u201caccommodation\u201d offered to them to opt-out of the mandate still violated their religious beliefs. The Tenth Circuit ruled against the sisters, but Gorsuch joined the dissent.<\/p>\n
In the Hobby Lobby case, critics of the Court\u2019s decision said that the business was not protected by RFRA because it was not a \u201cperson.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gorsuch explained how he reasoned that the law protected \u201cclosely-held for-profit corporations\u201d as well.<\/p>\n
The Green family claimed they owned \u201ca small, family-held company,\u201d Gorsuch said. \u201cThey exhibit their religious affiliation openly in their business. They pipe in Christian music. They refuse to sell alcohol or things that hold alcohol. They close on Sundays though it costs them a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCongress didn\u2019t define the term\u201d of \u201cperson\u201d when they wrote the law, he continued. The Court invoked the \u201cDictionary Act,\u201d which states that \u201cthe words \u2019person\u2019 and \u2018whoever\u2019 include corporations, companies, associations, firms, partnerships, societies, and joint stock companies, as well as individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you can\u2019t rule out the possibility that some companies can exercise religion,\u201d Gorsuch said. \u201cAnd of course we know churches are often incorporated. And we know non-profits like Little Sisters, or hospitals can practice religion. In fact, the government in that case conceded that non-profit corporations can exercise religion. Conceded that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Additionally, the birth control mandate was not the \u201cleast-restrictive means\u201d of ensuring contraception coverage, he added. The Supreme Court ruled \u201cthat it wasn\u2019t as strictly tailored as it could be because the government had provided different accommodations to churches and other religious entities.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Washington D.C., Mar 21, 2017 \/ 04:50 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- The judge nominated to replace Antonin Scalia at the Supreme Court answered questions on abortion and religious freedom jurisprudence on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
While he avoided commenting on how he may rule…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\n
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